Site Search Navigation

Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

Insane Things Republicans Say: Military Policy Edition

By Andrew Rosenthal October 13, 2015 1:12 pmOctober 13, 2015 1:12 pm

Photo

Chris Christie.Credit Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for The New York Times

Ask Republicans about military issues, especially Republicans who show no sign of knowing much about the military, and they’ll struggle mightily to appear tough and resolute, no matter how foolish they might seem. This week’s contributions come from Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey.

On Monday, Mr. Christie chimed in on the Syrian crisis. He said that if he were president, his “first phone call” would be to President Vladimir Putin of Russia. And he would tell him in no uncertain terms that he, President Christie, was a tough guy and not to be messed with. “I’d say, ‘Listen, we’re enforcing this no-fly zone,’” Mr. Christie said on MSNBC. “And I mean we’re enforcing it against anyone, including you. So don’t try me. Don’t try me. Because I’ll do it.”

(That sound you hear is Mr. Putin laughing derisively.)

The idea, Mr. Christie said in a separate interview, would be that he would shoot down a Russian warplane if necessary (a new low in vacuous political posing). The United States has a choice, he claimed, between going to war with Russia and letting the Kremlin reconstitute the Soviet Union in the Middle East. His choice would be war and he apparently thinks that would make him strong, unlike the “weakling” currently in the Oval Office.

Actually, it would make him a dangerous and reckless fool.

As for Mr. Cruz, he offered up one of the most tiresome Republican talking points on military issues. When he is Commander in Chief, he said, he would follow the advice of generals – never mind that that is exactly what Mr. Obama did over and over again.

In this particular case, Mr. Cruz said he would be following their advice about allowing gay, lesbian and transgender Americans to serve openly in the military. Asked whether he would abide by Congress’s repeal of the absurd and ineffective “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, Mr. Cruz said he would “listen to the expert judgment of the generals and the admirals” and added that military policy should ensure “good order and discipline.”

“We shouldn’t view the military as a cauldron for social experiments,” Mr. Cruz said.

There are a couple of points to make here.

First, if Harry Truman had followed Mr. Cruz’s vapid formulation about order and discipline, the military would still be segregated by race. If more recent presidents had followed it, women would not be allowed to serve in any real capacity in the armed forces, let alone in combat roles. And there isn’t the slightest sign that ending “don’t ask” has harmed either order or discipline.

Second, the generals and the admirals spoke on ending “don’t ask.” They were in favor of it. As for transgender Americans, the Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, hardly a wild-eyed liberal social-cauldron stirrer, also has spoken. I suppose it’s possible in some alternative universe that he didn’t consult the generals and admirals before he did that. Maybe in the one Mr. Cruz inhabits.